Joseph Kabila

Joseph Kabila (4 June 1971–) is a Congolese politician who was President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from January 2001 until January 2019. Kabila came to power after the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila. He was elected President in 2006 and reelected in 2011, amid accusations of repression and other election irregularities. He did not run in the 2018 general election, making a deal with opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi to rig the election in his favour. Kabila is credited by some with stabilising the country after the Second Congo War, but has fought continuous conflicts with dozens of rebel groups across the DRC. He and his family have been accused of amassing a personal fortune while most of the Congolese population remains poor.

Biography
Joseph Kabila was born to Laurent-Desire Kabila and his wife in a village in the South Kivu province of eastern Congo, on 4 June 1971. His father led a rebel group known as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) which opposed Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, so Kabila was raised in Tanzania in secrecy. He studied a military curriculum in Uganda before joining his father's forces in October 1996, fighting in the First Congo War to oust the Mobutu regime. He allegedly led a unit of child soldiers during the war. After the fall of Mobutu and the elder Kabila becoming President of DR Congo (newly renamed from Zaire), Joseph attended the PLA Academy in China. When he returned in 1998 Kabila was promoted to major-general in the armed forces of the DRC, becoming the Chief of Land Forces Staff in 2000.

When his father was assassinated by one of his bodyguards on 16 January 2001, Joseph Kabila was inaugurated as President of the DRC in Laurent-Desire's place ten days later. Aged 29, he was young and inexperienced, but was one of the main leaders of government forces in fighting the Ugandan- and Rwandan-backed RCD rebels that launched an uprising against the government in 1998. He signed a peace agreement in 2002 that established a transitional government with him as President while several rebel leaders became vice-presidents. A coup attempt by Mobutu loyalists was prevented in 2004. The first election was held in 2006, which Kabila won against former rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba despite various irregularities.

In 2011 he was reelected despite irregularities, and although his last term ended in November 2016, Kabila prolonged his term claiming that the government did not have the logistical ability to have an election. The election was finally held on 30 December 2018. Kabila did not run but endorsed Emmanuel Shadary, his former Interior Minister. Shadary lost, but Kabila made a deal with Felix Tshisekedi to share power, rigging the vote in his favour even though Martin Fayulu (endorsed by Jean-Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi) was the real winner.